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Is it worth upgrading my 6600 GT for around $100?

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darbius

Member
I'm building another computer this winter, but it also got me thinking that I would like to pump some life into the computer I built a couple years ago. I was browsing through the video cards and I saw some 256mb and 512mb for around $100. Granted some of them were GDDR2 isntead of GDDR3 and most, if not all, of them were Dx9 instead of Dx10, but I'm not sure I care too much about having Dx10 on this computer.

The card that is currently in this computer is the NVidia 6600 GT which only has 128mb. At the time I was making the computer it was much cheaper to get a 128mb card and just upgrade later. Now, the time for that upgrade seems like it has come. But, as I am building that other computer pretty soon, I'd like to avoid dropping too much more than about $150 on a new card. I'm not looking to play Crysis or anything on this comp and I'm not a videophile, but it would be nice to play games like Company of Heroes or Hellgate London on settings that don't totally suck.

The specs for the current computer are:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200MHz
Mobo: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI
Memory: OCZ Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 (PC 3200)
Vid Card: Chaintech 6600GT NVidia GeForce
HD: Seagate Barracuda 160.0 GB @ 7200 RPMS

Given the system specs above, would anyone out there recommend anything that would give me a pretty good video card performance boost over the 6600 GT I have now?

I had considered a few of these, but I'm just not sure how good the performance boosts would be over what I have in there now:

EVGA 8600GT 256MB ($90 AR)
PNY 8600GT 512MB ($130 AR)

I don't want to go too much higher than $130 (probably $150 max) because then I'm getting closer and closer to $200 and it becomes harder and harder to rationalize not just buying the new 8800gt when it comes out.

Thanks in advance for all your help.
 
The GT *is* out. I'd recommend waiting for the HD3850, though, to put some price pressure on the <$150 range.

Right now I think the best bang for your buck is this -- probably faster than both the cards you list.
 
I would probably wait a little longer until Nehalem comes out with DDR3 at reasonable prices to do a complete system overhaul. Therefore, I'd probably get:

A) X2 3800+ $56
B) Cooler Master Hyper TX - $10 after MIR and shipping
C) X1800XT 256mb - $110

If you overclock that processor to about 2.6ghz this system should last you another year probably.

Your other option would be to overclock the single core processor (since still not a lot of games take advantage of 2 cores and some games you play might not benefit at all). Then perhaps Radeon 3850 will be available for $175 or so (even lower near Black Friday I would imagine). Also it's difficult to say how much the 8800GT 256mb will cost when it actually comes out.

EDIT: Actually I'd take HIS X1950Pro for $112 over that X1800XT for the quieter cooler and greater # of pixel shaders. This card is a lot cheaper than 8600GTS and is usually faster.
 
As you already have NVidia drivers on your system, upgrading will be easier and simpler if you stay with NVidia. The 8600GT is much faster than the 6600GT. It is about as fast as a 7800GT. And all reviews show that the 8600GT is generally a bit faster than the ATI 2600XT. So for $90, it is is currently the best upgrade you can get.

The 8600GT would also be a well-balanced match with your processor.

However, when the ATI HD3850 comes out, next week, it will beat even the 8600GTS and put tremendous downward price pressure on the NVidia 8600GT and GTS.

So you could wait until the end of November and upgrade to an even cheaper 8600GT or GTS. There is a 20% performance upgrade from the 8600GT to the GTS, so prices should reflect no more than this. There are a lot of overpriced 8600GTS out there.

But of course NVidia is going to retaliate at some point. It is rumored there is a new 86xx in the works, a 65nm die-shrink/faster clocks of the current 80nm core found in the 8600GT and GTS. This should not appear before the Holidays, though.
 
Originally posted by: BernardP
And all reviews show that the 8600GT is generally a bit faster than the ATI 2600XT.
Click to expand...
That may have been the case at the time of release reviews, but it's not true any more. With current drivers in current games, the 2600XT has been beating not only the 8600GT but the more expensive 8600GTS. (Check out, for example, AT's UT3 bench).

I'd also choose it over previous-gen cards like the x1950pro. The last thing you need on an aging rig is a power hog that won't even help you decode HD video.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127306

If you decide to get an 8600GT, do not get either of the 2 you listed above.

Get the MSI i linked to above.

It's a Dual slot cooler solution and is highly overclocked. For $96 after rebate you will not find a faster card.

Normal 8600GT card:

Core speed: 540MHz
Memory speed: 1400MHz

MSI 8600GT OC card:

Core speed: 620MHz
Memory speed: 1600MHz

and the shaders are also overclocked to 1488MHz and the card runs very cool due to the unique cooling solution that is similar to the one used on the 8800GTS video cards.

 
Originally posted by: s44
Originally posted by: BernardP
And all reviews show that the 8600GT is generally a bit faster than the ATI 2600XT.
Click to expand...
That may have been the case at the time of release reviews, but it's not true any more. With current drivers in current games, the 2600XT has been beating not only the 8600GT but the more expensive 8600GTS. (Check out, for example, AT's UT3 bench).

I'd also choose it over previous-gen cards like the x1950pro. The last thing you need on an aging rig is a power hog that won't even help you decode HD video.
Click to expand...

Well... I checked some other recent reviews, and you are right. The UT bench above is an extreme example, but the 2600XT performance has been improving. Results also vary according to game, details, AA & AF, but the 2600XT is now more competitive with the 8600GT and GTS

This will all become moot very very soon with the release of ATI HD3850

The 8600 and 2600 are going to be pushed downmarket.
 
Thanks guys for all your really helpful responses. I may just wait until around Christmas, after the release of the revamped 8800GT and the HD3850 to see if it pushes any of the others down price-wise.

Thanks again.
 
Originally posted by: darbius
Thanks guys for all your really helpful responses. I may just wait until around Christmas, after the release of the revamped 8800GT and the HD3850 to see if it pushes any of the others down price-wise.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

If you plan on this buy a faster cpu also. Your 3200+ is too slow.
 
Originally posted by: happy medium
Originally posted by: darbius
Thanks guys for all your really helpful responses. I may just wait until around Christmas, after the release of the revamped 8800GT and the HD3850 to see if it pushes any of the others down price-wise.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

If you plan on this buy a faster cpu also. Your 3200+ is too slow.
Click to expand...

I was looking at possible upgrades for the processor and there aren't a lot of options for a socket 939 board. I guess I would upgrade to an Athlon 64 4000+, Athlon 64 X2 4200+ or maybe an Opteron 175/180. These are all still 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz and the only real differences I can see are in the cache sizes. Are these a real upgrade from the 3200+?
 
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Just get an X1950GT and be done with it.
Click to expand...

If its a 939 socket. Do what this guy said. or a 7900gs/gt. This should double your performance.

Time to upgrade to Intel's core2 and 8800 series after that.
 
Why not just upgrade your computer instead of buying a whole new system? You have dual pci-x. You can surely stick x2 processors and overclock and stick a 8800gt or whatever 3870xt when it comes out. It will not be a slow system. $350 upgrade top and you can play anything except for crysis at the highest settings.
 
I'm thinking I will probably stick the overclocked 8600gt or an X1950GT (haven't historically been a big fan of ATi cards, but might be worth a shot). As far as the processor, is it at all worth upgrading from the 3200+ to the X2 4200+ for about $70 or is that just a waste of money? Thanks all.

As far as upgrading the old one versus building a new one, I will actually be doing both. My wife will play the older one (she tends to be less demanding and really only requires that it looks decent and doesn't lag or stutter), and I'll be on the new kickass rig. Of course, I say that now, but we all know she'll end up on the kickass one and I'll be relegated to the old one. 😉 Ah married life.
 
Like I said your processor will not bottleneck much at all. It won't give you highest frame rates like core 2 duo @ 3.6+ghz but you will be satisfied for at least more than a year before you feel the upgrade itch. X2 4200 can easily overclock to 2.6ghz or more. That is plenty to feed a card like 8800gt.

Games aren't totally based on how powerful your cpu is. Video cards matter more than anything else. It's only with the latest games that it started supporting dual core processors. Only like 1 or 2 games support quad and the difference is only minimal right now.

If your wife isn't too much into gaming than I suggest you just leave the processor as is. It should plenty for tasks and light gaming.
 
CPU bottlenecking will largely depend on the game. As Azn said videocard matters more but in some games a single core cpu will be significantly slower.

Bioshock 1600x1200
A64 4000+ 2.4ghz = 44fps
X2 2.0ghz = 61fps

Supreme Commander 1600x1200
A64 single 2.8ghz = 17fps
C2D 1.86ghz = 27fps

But then there games like FEAR and STALKER where cpu performance is far less important. LINK

You can always just upgrade the videocard and overclock the processor. If you find that the speed isnt good enough, you can always pick up a dual core.
 
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